Guide to the Lonsdale Company Records , 1831-1946

Rhode Island Historical Society
121 Hope Street
Providence, RI 02906
Tel: 401-273-8107
Fax: 401-751-7930
email: reference@rihs.org

Published in 2009

Collection Overview

Title:	Lonsdale Company Records
Date range:	1831-1946
Creator:	Lonsdale Company
Extent:	45 linear feet
Abstract:	The Lonsdale Water Power Company, an unchartered corporation founded by the firm of Brown & Ives with Edward Carrington and others, was organized in 1825. The company proceeded to buy up estates and water rights along the Blackstone River in the towns of Smithfield and Cumberland, Rhode Island. In 1831, the company began construction of a mill - later called Lonsdale Mill No. 1- and organized around that mill the village they named Lonsdale in Smithfield. Included in this collection are: administrative records, 1834-1924; general accounts, 1831-1944; production records, 1836-1916; correspondence, 1832-1921; miscellany, 1910-45. Especially important are the minute of company meetings, 1834-1906.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	Rhode Island Historical Society
Collection number:	MSS 9 SG 2

Scope & content

Included in this collection are: administrative records, 1834-1924; general accounts, 1831-1944; production records, 1836-1916; correspondence, 1832-1921; miscellany, 1910-45. Especially important are the minute of company meetings, 1834-1906, which are quite thorough and complete. They include a historical narrative entered in June, 1900, upon the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the management firm of Goddard Bros.

Access Points

Subject Names

• Blackstone, William, 1595-1675.
• Carrington, Edward, 1775-1843.
• Kelly, Wilber, 1781-1846.

Subject Organizations

• Ann & Hope Mill.
• Ashton Mill.
• Berkeley Mill.
• Sinking Fund Mill.
• Blackstone Manufacturing Company.
• Brown & Ives.
• Goddard Brothers.
• Hope Company.
• Lincoln Bleachery and Dye Works.
• Lonsdale Bleachery and Dye Works.
• Lonsdale Water Power Company.
• Manton Mill.
• Phenix Mill.
• Seneca Company.
• Sinking Fund Mill.
• Textron, inc.

Subject Topics

• Business records - Rhode Island.
• Cotton finishing.
• Cotton manufacture - Rhode Island.
• Cotton spinning.
• Cotton weaving.

Geographical Names

• Blackstone River (Mass. and R.I.)
• Lonsdale (Cumberland, R.I.)
• Lonsdale (Smithfield, R.I.)

Subject Topics

• Rhode Island/Local Interest
• Business

Arrangement

• Series A. Administrative Records, 1834-1924
• Series B. General Accounts, 1831-1944
• Series C. Production Records, 1836-1916
• Series D. Correspondence, 1832-1921
• Series E. Miscellaney, 1834-1906

Historical note

The Lonsdale Water Power Company, an unchartered corporation founded by the firm of Brown & Ives with Edward Carrington and others, was organized in 1825. The company proceeded to buy up estates and water rights along the Blackstone River in the towns of Smithfield and Cumberland, Rhode Island. In 1831, the company began construction of a mill - later called Lonsdale Mill No. 1- and organized around that mill the village they named Lonsdale in Smithfield. As well with mill villages that came later, Lonsdale included houses, tenements, a school, a church, a store, and an increasing number of services.

In the following year, Mill No. 1 began spinning and weaving cotton while construction was started on Mill No. 2. Later records refer to an "Upper Mill" which pre-existed both of these but which for some reason did not fall into the orderly number succession. Perhaps it fell in a remodeling and renovation project.

The company was chartered as the Lonsdale Company in 1834. The incorporators were Nicholas Brown, John Carter Brown, Thomas Poynton Ives, Moses Brown Ives and Robert Hale Ives (the partners in the firm of Brown & Ives), with Edward Carrington and Wilbur Kelly. The establishment at that time included approximately 11,000 spindles on 230 looms. The agent and mill superintendent was Captain Wilbur Kelly, formerly a master of Brown & Ives ships, who had retired earlier to pursue manufacturing interests. When he died in 1846 it symbolized the passing of the last of the generation of men who had made their fortunes and/or reputations in ovean commerce but who had become significant in the transition to manufacturing.

Lonsdale Mill No. 3, also a cotton manufacturing establishment, began operation in 1834. Unlike some other manufacturing families and firms, Brown & Ives did not venture into the making of woolens or silk. Expansion continued in 1839 with the purchase by the company of half interest in the Phenix Mill Estate. A bleachery and dye works began operation at Lonsdale in 1844. Named the Lincoln Bleachery and Dye Works, this plant was enlarged and improved in 1872 to handle the increased flow of goods generated by the new Berkeley Mill at Ashton. As the Lonsdale Bleachery and Dye Works, it was the main concern of the company when it was sold in 1944. The Hope Estate, a going concern, was purchased in 1844.

In 1850, Goddard brothers, a Providence management firm, took over management of the Lonsdale Company. With the passing of Kelly and Carrington the firm was left solely owned by members of the brown & Ives families and families joined to them by marriage, through the firm Brown & Ives, managed by Goddard Bros. It remained so until the company was sold in 1944.

After its failure in 1855, John Carter brown purchased the Manton Mill, located on the Woonasquatucket River in Providence County. He sold the mill in turn to Lonsdale Company in 1857. Lonsdale Company abandoned Manton in 1876 and removed the machinery to Lonsdale Mill No. 1. The building was sold in 1880.

The Phenix Mill, over which the company had gradually won control, was sold in 1860 to the Hope Company, which was likewise owned by Brown & Ives. Also in 1860, construction began on Lonsdale Mill No. 4, which was located on the Cumberland side of the Blackstone River. The company organized a village around this mill, too, and also called it Lonsdale. The Cumberland village of Lonsdale is known as the "New Village" to differentiate it from the original, "Old Village," on the Smithfield side. Mill No. 4 was mostly razed by the company in 1934.

Mill No. 4 had been organized to manufacture a new, finer grade of cotton goods. This line, named Lonsdale Cambric Muslins, was so successful that the company erected another mill for the same purpose. Completed in 1865, this mill was located in Ashton, Cumberland, on the premises of one of the first estates purchased by Lonsdale Water Power Company. This was the site of the old Sinking Fund Mill, which was renamed Ashton Mill No. 1. The new mill became Ashton No. 2. It was demolished by the company in 1895.

One of the most famous of the Lonsdale Company Mills was the Ann & Hope, located in Lonsdale. Construction began in 1886 on a super-large, super-modern mill to take the place of Lonsdale mills No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 which were found to be badly deteriorated and stocked with machinery that had mostly become outdated. Mill No. 1 was remodeled but No. 2 and No. 3 were stripped of serviceable machinery and abandoned, later razed. The new mill was named for the wives of the two founders of Brown & Ives. Its construction site was found to include a grave thought to belong to William Blackstone, pioneer white settler for whom the Rover and the surrounding area were named. The remains were moved to a new location in front of the mill and a suitable marker was placed. This huge structure, still remarkable for its size, was closed by the company in 1936 and sold in 1942.

In 1919, the Lonsdale Bleachery was renamed Lincoln Bleachery to prevent confusion on the part of customers who would mistake goods bleached and ticketed there for other mills with goods bleached for the Lonsdale Company and its subsidiaries.

In 1924, Goddard Brothers decided to consolidate management of some of their holdings by selling all assets of the Hope, Berkeley and Blackstone companies to the Lonsdale Company. This act brought together the Lincoln Bleachery and Dye Works; Seneca Company of Seneca, NC; Blackstone Company; Lonsdale No. 4; Hope Company, mills at Hope and Phenix; and the Berkeley Company, Ashton and Berkeley Mills. With the exception of the Seneca Company, which was sold in 1941, these companies comprised the Lonsdale corporate holdings that were sold in december, 1944 to Royal Little. The assets were disposed thereafter by the Textron Corporation.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access.
Use of the materials:	Researchers are advised that express written permission to reproduce, quote, or otherwise publish any portion or extract from this collection must be obtained from the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Preferred citation:	Lonsdale Company Records, MSS 9 SG 2, Rhode Island Historical Society.
Contact information:	Rhode Island Historical Society 121 Hope Street Providence, RI 02906 Tel: 401-273-8107 Fax: 401-751-7930 email: reference@rihs.org

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	Part of this collection was donated as a gift from Mr. Robert Thurber.
Processing information:	Funds for this collection were provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Rhode Island Historical Society Library staff.
Encoding:	Finding aid encoded by Mark Chepkwony 2009 August 14
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Bibliography:

Hedges, James Blaine. The Browns of Providence Plantations. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1952. page 185. Rhode Island Historical Society. Manuscript Collections. Inventories: MSS 9 - Brown & Ives Manufacturing Records. Sub Group 3 - Hope Company records; Sub Group 5 - Berkeley Company Records; Sub Group 9 - Brown & Ives Company Records; Sub-Group 10 - Goddard Brothers Company Records. U.S. Congress, Senate. Investigation of Closing of American Textile Mills, the Operations of Textron, Incorporated and the Use of Charitable Trusts by Private Industry to Secure Tax Avoidance and Risk Capital. 81st Cong., 1st sess., 1949, S. Repr. 101.

Inventory

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